Letter From the Editor

Nancy Ferris

Welcome to the first ever BayGeo Journal!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's strikingly similar to the BAAMA Journal we all knew and loved, just with a different name, but it's a big change nonetheless.

With the journal's name change comes several snazzy new features. Since this is an interactive web publication, Barbara Kerby included an animated map in her story describing how the Human App collects data from nearly all Apple devices to show where people bike, run, walk, and take public transportation in major cities around the globe. I'm just itching to overlay one of their maps onto a digital elevation model of San Francisco to see if people avoid the hills when they jog.

I'm also proud to introduce an interactive maps section in the Map Gallery. You may want to look at it on a computer or tablet instead of a mobile device so you can click and slide and pan. The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and Chris Ringewald show how social justice and dynamic maps go hand in hand. You'll also want to be able to zoom waaaaaay in to read about Peter Dartnell's work at the U.S. Geological Survey using a host of data sources to map the seafloor in the San Francisco Bay Area for the California State Waters Map Series.

DigitalGlobe explains how to use crowdsourcing to analyze imagery to fight contagious disease AND get people to help you cover thousands of square miles of imagery for free! If you like what you read in the Contagious article check out tomnod.com to help with their campaigns. Not only do I feel like I'm using my GIS skills to help the planet, but it's like playing a video game as I rack up points looking through imagery to fight elephant poaching, child slavery, and flooding in Japan. If only all of my internet surfing was so productive...

Also in this issue, the GIS team at WRA share their experience adapting to sea level rise using GIS to restore Breuner Marsh. Tidal marsh communities change dramatically with just a slight change in elevation, so the design they build today has to shift up over time as sea level rises and moves inland. Their GIS model was the perfect tool to develop the multiple scenarios required to let this marsh thrive for years into the future.

Dara O'Beirne was a double winner in this issue. After I read the email containing his winning entry for the "Where in the Bay Area?" contest I clicked on the personal website listed in his signature. Right there in bold caps was a blog entry titled "OLD MAPS" and I was hooked! Dara leads us on a lovely cartographic tour through the Bay Area with a collection of historical maps.

Posing with the huge map at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz, CA.

All of us at BayGeo love the San Francisco Bay Area geospatial community and we're excited to welcome new people and groups under the BayGeo umbrella. Our tireless BayGeo President Mōno Simeone explains this at length in his Letter from the President.

Many thanks to all of the authors who contributed to this issue. It was a real treat to meet such kind, smart and motivated people. This was my first issue as webmaster so special thanks go to all the reviewers who caught errors before we published!

If you have a map or story to share in a future issue of the BayGeo Journal please contact me at journal@baygeo.org.